John, that is a good question.  I am going to have to check all my books when I get home tomorrow.  Unfortunately, the part two Detail and Scale book on the Corsair is made of unobtainium.  It has all the later marks of Corsair, and I bet it has the necessary information.  It would be nice if Squadron would re-release the book.  The -7 is supposed to be an AU-1 with a -4 engine.  I also wonder how adaptable the Heller kit would be?  If anybody else has some good line drawings of the AU-1, it would be much appreciated  if you posted them.

Besides the lack of air scoops, it also has 5 hard points on each wing instead of 4.  It seems like the launch rails are like the .50cal armed -4, instead of the cannon armed -4B and -5's.  Of course I could just drop a bunch of money, and  get the Hasegawa kit.  But, what fun would that be?  Your Corsair body shop has inspired me.

I hope all is well down in the Southern Hemisphere, and with our fellow GB builders everywhere.

Cheers,

Greg

I was looking around on the Web, and it seems the cowl is the same as the -5 but doesn't have the open scoops.  How accurate the shape of my minicraft kit is, I will have to check.  Depending on how accurate the minicraft kit is (or isn't), it might not be that hard of a conversion for me to make since I am getting the correct cockpit from True Details. gotta run

Cheers,

Greg

Helo H-34

Excellent looking Banshee , Travis , well done

I like the markings as well .

Greg , nice work on the F-82 , so far  

John, bored at work, so I've been looking around on the AU-1 idea.  It appears that the fuselage/exhaust openings are like the -4B, and the cowling, minus the chin intakes, are like the -5.  So, I think I can take an Academy -4B that I have and mate it to a Minicraft -5N front.  Corsair surgery must be contagious, thanks!  Since you are going the 1/72 route, if I remember right, my Italeri -7 came with 3 different cowls, and I think even has AU-1 decals.  I need to check for sure.  I don't know if that helps, but I think you can match up some of your Italeris in an AU-1 also. 

Cheers,

Greg

I think I'll buy another High Planes F4U-5N kit and use that front section on another Italeri F4U-5N fuselage and build a AU-1 Corsair 

The Revell F4U-5 kit I have , has the same decal markings as on the AU-1 above .

The Osprey book "F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War" is really great , I finally figured out where those upside down T antenna's actually fit . However I may have made a small error with the wing cannons on my two F4U-4Bs , I think they might be sticking out to far from the edge of the wing ; I was trying to find a nice close-up pic of the wing cannons on the 4B or maybe a finished 1/72 model to compare with . I also saw the Hobbyboss F4U-4 kit with the cobra on the engine cowl , I'm not sure how accurate the hobbyboss kit is , It's not very expensive , so I think I might buy it for the decals and use the fuel tanks and rockets on other Italeri Corsair builds ?

                                John .

John, that Osprey book is pretty darn good, isn't it?  Until you mentioned it, I never noticed that the Hobbyboss kit came with those markings.  Those are the VMF 323 "Death Rattlers".  I am going to pick one of those up just for the decals.  I have a 1/48 Academy -4 with those markings too.  That is good that you already have AU-1 decals.  That is half the battle right there.  For the interior, I am unsure of its availabiltiy, but Aires makes an AU-1/F4U-7 cockpit set in 1/72.  I think it is for the Italeri kit.

When I get home later today, I will check and see if I have anything that can help with cannon location.  I'm sure that my Squadron books should have line drawings on it.  If so, I'll post them.

I have been a fan of the Corsair since I was a little kid.  Even so, I have learned more about my favorite bird (and Korean War aviation) during this GB.  You've come up with planes I didn't even know existed!

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

Unfortunately, the part two Detail and Scale book on the Corsair is made of unobtainium.  It has all the later marks of Corsair,

I have the Detail and Scale book you are asking about.  If you let me know what the questions are I will try to find the answers.  The AU-1 prototype was an F4U-5 and the cowl is the same but the cheek intakes were blocked off.  A lot more armor was added underneath the airplane and a low altitude engine (R-2800-83W) replaced the -5 high altitude engine.  The exhaust looked like a -4.

The -7 was built in the early 50's for a French order and was a mix of -4, -5, and AU-1.

There is a lot of confusion about the lengths of the Corsair and it is not helped by drawings from Vought that look good but are not consistent.  I am not sure where the length difference took place but am pretty sure the AU-1 and -5 are the longest and the same, the -4 and -7 are the same and shorter.  There was a 10 inch difference and my guess is it all happened firewall forward, but I don't know for sure.

I had a bit of a search on the net for the Aires AU-1/F4U-7 cockpit but sadly I couldn't find one , I may just have to use the one from the Italeri kit . I also went and checked High Planes web site and they have both the F4U-5N and F4U-7 kits available . The 7 only comes with French markings , I was a little curious about what type of engine cowl came with the F4U-7 kit ?

Anyway here's a pic of the wing cannons on the two F4U-4B's , there both ready for masking , so I wanted to find out if I need to correct them or not , to me they appear to be sticking out too far ???

On another note I have finally got the PBM-5 Mariner into the spraybooth ...

I'll be airbrushing this afternoon , I'm really looking forward to getting some paint on her !

                          John .

Gregbbear

I have been a fan of the Corsair since I was a little kid.  Even so, I have learned more about my favorite bird (and Korean War aviation) during this GB.  You've come up with planes I didn't even know existed!

Cheers,

Greg

I agree about this GB being a great learning experiance ; I originally started with the Mach 2 H04S-1 Dragonfly , 4 months later I have nearly 70 Korean War kits in the stash with about 10 books associated with aircraft and armour used during the korean War . With 15 kits at various stages of construction , I need to pull my finger out and get a lot more finished !!!

                           John .

I have to agree with everyone! I was never really a "Fan" on the Korean War kits. But after doing some research I i am totally sold. In the last 2 months I have  picked up an F-86, F-84E, and a F4! Plus and F-84 Thunderchef! Thanks to all.

Travis

Love the Mariner, can't wait to see it in some paint.

I got hooked on the Korean war during the GB last year. It really stands all on its own due to the odd mix of technology, lots of WW2 equipment and just missed the war stuff mixed with helicopters and jets.  

I should be getting the finishing touches on the Panther soon, I had a couple of other GB's ending soon so shifted my attention to other projects.

Yes, it certainly has motivated me! (this GB that is).  My Corsair was languishing for several years, and I'm glad I finally built her.  The twin mustang wasn't even on my radar let alone all the cool stuff John (helo) has dug up.

John (jeaton01), thanks for the info.  I will probably ask for more as this build goes from the planning stages to the actual build.  From what I've read, the Has AU-1 isn't totally accurate in the cockpit, so I would have had to get an AM anyways.  The minicraft -5N is really weak.  I'm thinking, I might modify my academy -4B, since it is a little better.  Regardless, the cowl for the either will have to be modified.  The -5 is devoid of detail, so not just will I have to work on the chin scoops, I will have to scribe in all of the detail.  That is why it is called modelling instead of constructing, I guess.  It is fun, as long as you get the info before you build it, not right after.  That is no fun, when somebody steals your sunshine by letting you know all you wanted to know about the subject  AFTER you finish.  Sometimes compromises have to be made though.  Regardless, I love this hobby.  I would rather continue to glue my fingers together and try and find obscure pictures than most of the things my contemporaries do ( play video games).  I'm not knocking that or anything anyone else does for a diversion.  I just really enjoy this one and the camaraderie I get from this site and the LHS, other than having, lets say my own 1/1 Corsair or Ferrari 250 GTO, to play with.......

I did get my seat belts for my Mustangs, they come in two different colors: green and yellow.  Anybody have an idea what would be right for an F-51 or an F-82?  If not, artistic license will come into play.  Tomorrow at work, i will finally be able to seal up the fuselages on them.

Cheers,

Greg

The airbrushing of the PBM-5 Mariner went really well ...

I used Gunze Acrylic H-326 [FS 15044] Blue .

Tomorrow I'll airbrush a few coats of clear and mask the yellow tips on the propellers and paint the props flat black , I'm very happy with the overall finish , looking forward to decaling her as well shortly .

                            John

The Mariner looks great!

Cheers,

Greg

Gregbbear

The Mariner looks great!

Really looking good John!!! Can't wait for the stckers!!!

Thank's guys , I'm quite happy with PBM-5 Mariner .

I also gave the two F4U-4B's a few coats of Gunze H-326

Tomorrow I'll remask the two H03S-1 Dragonfly's and give them another go with the airbrush .

                                   John .

jeaton01

Here's the build log on an Academy B-17E I built a while ago.  I just removed some material from the fuselage on both sides at the bottom of the wing fit, no sanding on the wings.  Had a little issue fitting the cockpit transparency and the seam from there to the upper turret.  It's a little flimsy there.

http://www.yolo.net/~jeaton/mymodels/b17/1b17e/1b17e.htm

John [jeaton] ,thank's for the tip on fixing the wing dhedrial ; I removed both sets of wings on my two PB-1W's [B-17] , it took quite a bit of effort but I managed to get them off without damaging anything , apart from the fuselage join re-opening and I'll have to re-glue and putty , I did what you suggested and just filed the bottom section of the fuselage where the wings fit in . I should have them back together in a day or two .

Thank's again for the advice and help

                                    John .

Something else I found out about the PBM-5 Mariner while looking through my newly aquired Korean War reference books , there was a B&W photo of the mariner with what appears to be white beaching gear struts and white wheel hubs ...

I had airbrushed my beaching gear and wheel hubs the same as the aircraft color and actually thought at the time that they probably won't stand out that much apart from the red box's attached to the side of each strut ; Anyway I re-painted my struts and wheel hubs white , so it will match the pic above and certainly be a nice contrast up against a rather large blue aircraft ...." I love reference books with lot's of photo's"

                    John .

Well after getting some enthusiasm to actually work on the Sabre, my compressor has died. I'm not sure how long until I can get another. So unfortunatly everything is put on hold...

Very nice Banshee Travis! she looks great! I am glad to see another completed kit here!

My apologies to all for being away for a week or so. Life on the home front has been quite difficult and had me in spirits where I was not good company online or in person. I will try to be on here and keeping track of this GB as best I can.

Stik ,

I hope things improve on the home front for you and your family ; Hang in there buddy .

Well , no stickers on the Mariner as yet ; but I did add all the bits and pieces , so she'll be ready for decaling first thing tomorrow ...

I decided to airbrush a slightly lighter shade of dark blue on the underside of the fuselage and outboard wing floats ...

I got the idea from some color profiles in the USN/USMC over Korea book

I also picked up the Airwaves resin nose for a F9F-5P Recon Panther ...

It's designed for the Hasegawa kit but I thought I would use it on the Revell F9F-5 Panther ...

                             John .

Travis: Great Banshee, stripes look good to me!

Helo: Sharp job on the Mariner!

Well I found most of the parts for the K1A1 but the support arm for one of the hatch mounted MGs and a small pitchfork shaped thingee that I assume might be a wind sensor for the targeting computer. Going to keep looking and will scratch build parts if they never show. The main gun is solidly cemented in place now...

Gamera, glad you are finding the pieces.

John (helo),  your Mariner is one cool bird!  The Panther will be a nice addition to your fleet.  I had been wondering who flew those in Korea.  I now know at least VC 61 did by looking at your picture.  I am building a 1/48 Monogram version for the Alley Cat GB.  I didn't include it here because I didn't have KW markings, now I at least have an idea, so thanks.

The Twin Mustang is moving along (slowly).  It took a lot of clean up work on the fuselage seams.  The wings were about average.  One area that could stand improvement is the instrument panels.  Hopefully, one of the AM guys like Eduard will make a p.e set for it.  I would certainly build another one of these if they do.  Unless I screw something up, I think this will turn out  pretty nice.  This Monogram kit has stood the test of time, as far as I'm concerned.  Off topic, but I would love to see Monogram follow Airfix's lead.  They have come out with tremendous value.  They are releasing some oldies, but for very reasonable prices.  Their new releases are very nice, and very affordable.  I just bought a Bf 110 for $10.  If it was made in Japan, it would have cost 4 times as much.  Anyways, it was just a thought.

Cheers,

Greg

Nice work so far on the F-82G Greg .

The cockpits look really good , those extra bits you added to the fuselage cockpit insides stand out nicely ;

I like the open machine gun access panel too .

Gamera , I'm glad your still plugging away on your K1 tank

                      John .

I've finished the 1/72 scale Mach 2 PBM-5 Mariner ;

'Baker Able 9' , Martin PBM-5 Mariner of VP-47 ;

Based at Iwakuni , Japan .

Used for long range patrol operations off Korea 1951 .

Here's some pic's...

                                 John .

Fantastic!  John, your Mariner turned out great.  In my mind, that will probably be the stand-out A/C of this group build.  Where you lightened up some parts, looks real good too.

Cheers,

Greg

Real nice work on the Mariner, John.  Excellent.

Greg and John ,

Thank's for the compliments on the PBM-5 Mariner

The weather has been a little overcast and light showers these past few days here in Sydney but I did manage to get one pic of the Mariner on the sea ramp....

I'm really happy with the build , like all the Mach 2 kits I have built , I would alway's love to have another go at the same aircraft again , I can see a few minor things I can improve on . However the kits so darn expensive , I can only afford one type at a time .

Anyway I have the Mach 2 RB-45C Tornado , C-54 Skymaster and AJ-2P Savage to come , so I'm looking forward to the Challenge .

                                       John .

Helo: Heck yeah! The Mariner looks even better with the decals. I love the panel shading. Looking forward to the F4U and F9F too.

Greg: Only thing better than a pony is TWO ponies!

Getting tempted to pull out my F9F too now.........